Cooperstown, NY

Sunday and Monday we spent a packed two days in the quaint and beautiful little village called Cooperstown. Known as the baseball capital of the world, it was a perfect trip centered around this American pastime. My friend Mariah's little brother Walker was playing in a tourney at the Cooperstown Dreams Park, and we trekked up toward Albany to be a part of the action.

Our first stop of the trip was Brooks House of Bar-B-Que. We called ahead and grabbed take-out to eat on the picnic tables while Theodore continued to nap in the car beside us. I normally don't eat chicken off the bone, but this was excellent stuff. I liked that it was a dry barbeque, without the sauce, though Brian and I both agreed it would be good to have a little sauce to dip the breast meat in. This was one of many places we visited that Rachael Ray suggested in her Aug 09 magazine. That article alone was enough to get me up to Cooperstown.

Our first stop in Cooperstown itself was the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It seemed like we had to look all over town, but we eventually found a parking spot right behind the museum. I would definitely suggest looking into the park and ride trains or trolleys to avoid the parking issues next time. We had an enjoyable time here, as anyone who knows Brian knows how he can read every article in a museum and spend the whole day soaking up information. I had to drag him out of there so we could get to Cooperstown Dreams park for one of Walker's games. When we got there they weren't doing too hot, but they soon put Walker in to pitch and the Wizards won a great game.

The next day, after an early morning game, we headed to Brewery Ommegang to have a tasting of the Belgian brews, and enjoy the scenery. A free tour accompanied the tasting, though I was disappointed they didn't actually have the bottling going. I would have loved to see that. After trying all the brews, I was able to finally get a handle on just what kind of ales I like (and don't). I always end up asking Brian if I'll like something, because I can never remember all the different kinds. I of course liked their lightest beer Witte, but also enjoyed Rare Vos as a great drink, and appreciated the quadruple Three Philosophers, though that may be partly because she had us try it with a side of dark chocolate. I wasn't a big fan of the BPA or the Abbey Ale (maybe the licorice turned me off?), but would love to try their Hennepin with some roasted chicken.

From here we followed Rachel Ray's advice to Alex and Ika where I agree that the BST (bacon, spinach, tomato) is a great sammy, and the fingerling potato fries live up to their praises (the Chipotle Aioli Dip was to die for). The last establishment we visited was The Penguin, an ice cream shop that boasted "custom ice cream". They basically take regular hard ice cream and blend in your toppings, more like a DQ Blizzard than a Cold Stone Mix-In but still being hard ice cream, not soft. I had a cone with butter pecan though and thought it was pretty great.

We enjoyed one last game before we headed back from an awesome trip.